Diffuse planar phase boundaries in a two-phase fluid with one very dense phase

Abstract

This note studies Navier-Stokes-Allen-Cahn models for compressible fluids that are mixtures of two incompressible phases whose density ratio eps=rho_1/rho_2 is very small. Under a natural assumption on the mixing energy, it shows the existence of diffuse planar phase boundaries for all 0=eps<eps_0. For eps=0, one recovers the Navier-Stokes-Korteweg model and its well-known diffuse phase boundaries.